<h4>Chapter 89: Did you like me?</h4>


    "I apologize, I seem to have aroused your anger. It was not my intention, I simply want you to see a few things from your father’s side and work on your rtionship with him." she exined.


    Benjamin was closer to the king than Rnd, it was good because they were father and son but when all variables were brought together, it was not good for Rnd.


    It was like an aging bridge, with its rusted supports and growing cracks, standing as a silent threat. It would take one heavy load to trigger a catastrophic copse. Benjamin was the male lead, the ideal king. In the end, burdened by all the blood that had been shed he gave up the throne to his younger brother, another of Rina’s sons.


    To Sigrid, that made no difference, he was still named the emperor, even if it was just for a few days while he put things in order.


    The only way to put Rnd on the throne was to destroy Emmah and rebuild the aging bridge with new materials so that it would survive the catastrophe.


    "You do not understand the rtionship between my parents, you are an outsider which is why you judge and make presumptions like everyone else." he said harshly.


    Sigridughed silently, if she was in love with Rnd, being called an outsider would hurt, but she was not in love. She just wanted to survive death.


    She raised her eyes to his face, it was a storm his brows were knitted together tightly. His eyes were zing with an intense, unyielding fire. Sigrid was just as unyielding however, if he wanted to take the hard road, she would follow him down and pull him up.


    "Enlighten this outsider then, how is the marriage between your parents any different from ours? You did not marry me because you liked me, you married me because my family is noble and powerful."


    His lipspressed into a thin line, he wanted to remind her that he did not want to marry her at all in the first ce, she had been the genesis of their rtionship. Now, he was making the best of the circumstances.


    Suddenly, he felt a warmth on his hands and looked down, Sigrid’s hand was on his, she had moved from where she had been sitting ande closer to him.


    "Am I wrong, did you like me?" she asked.


    He pulled his hand away. "No." he bit out.


    He waited for her to throw a tantrum but when he looked at her, she was calm. His words had not affected her in the slightest, and it made him ufortable. It reminded him a lot of his mother’s behavior, the coldness in her eyes when she watched his father ying with Rina, Benjamin and Thssa in the gardens.


    While theyughed, she looked on as if nothing mattered, he had always hated her attitude. He wanted her to explode, to join them if that was what she wished, to drag the king away by force. As a boy, he had longed for her to make his father y with him as well the way Rina would make him y with Benjamin.


    He had to learn how to use the sword from teachers and knights, Benjamin had learned from their father before he was passed off to an official trainer.


    He was the crown prince from childhood and yet he would have given it up in a heartbeat for a few moments of affection from his father.


    "See, that is the point I am making." Sigrid’s voice broke into his thoughts. "Your father did not like your mother and she didn’t like him either or maybe she did and she just hid it well. They could have tried to work on their marriage but the queen’s rtives ruined that by pushing this and that in the royal court.


    They unted their power and made it clear that they helped him secure the throne. When you were born, I heard that the De Kensington’s threw a three day banquet to celebrate. If you were the king, what would you think?"


    She touched his shoulder and patted it gently, softening her voice. "I am not saying that the king was right to give the queen a cold shoulder and indulge Rina. What I am saying is that they both could have handled things differently, they could have talked and worked together as a couple rather than each clinging to their original house at the expense of the other.


    I am saying that you are not a boy anymore, you are a man and a future king. You need the guidance of your father, his knowledge and better memories than those you have of him. From where he is sitting, he is on the outside with you because you chose your mother’s side.


    There is no such thing as eternal enmity between a parent and their child, it just takes one party to bend and extend a branch. I had breakfast with him, it was not so bad, you should try doing the same.


    Take him out for dinner in the city, invite him to see your horses, heck, buy him one randomly. Give him a shoulder massage, be his advisor on some political matters disturbing him. Do not leave a big crack that others with bad intentions will slip through and take advantage of."


    She took a deep breath and lifted the top of the table that had been built into the carriage. There was a storage area down from where she retrieved some warm water with honey in a sk.


    Sigrid poured two cups and handed one to him, "Did you have breakfast or did you rush here after hearing that I had been summoned."


    He took the cup from her, threw his head back and gulped down the contents in one big sip.


    "What did you talk about with him?"


    He ignored the breakfast question, unwilling to admit that he had rushed to the royal castle as soon as he heard that she had been summoned. After the dinner disaster the previous evening, he was worried that his grand uncle had brought the matter to court and his father intended to punish her.


    She made some peppermint tea which she gave him along with some toasted white bread.


    "He wanted to know how we were doing, he asked for my thoughts on different issues and also wanted to know what kind of things I hear in the restaurant."


    As the carriage made it’s way to the Thorin estate, she told him everything she had talked about with the king and encouraged him not to shy away from sharing his thoughts with the kingter when he was summoned.


    He was the crown prince, a seasoned sword fighter, the king was definitely going to ask for this thoughts on the Silberuss family.


    By the time they arrived and the carriage doors were opened, she had sessfully adjusted a part of his mind. Even though he still held resentment towards his father, he was willing to share a private meal with him.


    He stepped out of the carriage first and she followed, the minute she was seen by the peacocks that were on a walk, things became chaotic. Rnd found himself the confused victim of a peacock attack.